Study says: U.S. needs adoption rights for gay and lesbian parents

A recent non-partisan study reached a “universal professional consensus” that same-sex couples should universally be included in the adoption pool.

The Chicago Tribune reports:

“The pool of potential adoptive parents must be expanded to keep pace with the growing number of kids in foster care who are legally free for adoption,” stated the report by the Evan B. Donaldson Adoption Institute, which is based in New York.

Currently, about 129,000 U.S. children are in foster care, many of whom are older, have special needs and face grim prospects for finding a loving, permanent home.

Besides the emotional hardships, a national ban on gay adoptions could add $87 million to $130 million to foster care system expenditures each year, the report said, citing previous research. Not only would children who are removed from gay and lesbian homes be placed in group or institutional care, which is more costly, the state would incur the costs of recruiting and training new foster parents, researchers found.